Hi All,

Have what I think is an interesting question......

I've just sourced a new bike from Chain Reaction Cycles who are just north of Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Anyway, to get there and pick it up, (it can't be exported to CH due to licensing.....) i've figured the best way is to there is via Dublin, and then to drive north for two hours to Ballyclare.

They've told me they'll that i'll be able to claim the VAT back via the retail export scheme, but I know I have to get the VAT form stamped at Dublin airport, but i'm not sure if this also needs to be done when crossing the border from North to South Ireland.

The VAT is considerable, so not claiming it is no option for me.

If someone has made a similar experience your advise would help!

Thanks.

Phil.

You need to get the VAT form stamped at an airport in the country of purchase. You then have 3 months to export the goods.

Claiming the VAT back depends on the form. If the shop has their own special form with debit/credit card details, then you just need to get the form back to them. If it is global refund form, then you take it to their office (recommended) or post it to them. Take copies of everything if you post it, but they will still say they only accept originals

We just did this 2 weeks back for a laptop purchased in the UK. My husband needed to travel to Gatwick just to get the form stamped because City Airport doesn't do it. Many of our friends never got their VAT back because they didn't get the form stamped before sending it to Global Refund.

Hope this helps

Myself and others on the forum have purchased and had bikes shipped to Switzerland before from CRC. In these cases CRC themselves did not charge the UK VAT as the bike was for export. The situation you are in seems to be a bit of a predicament. Since it is UK VAT which is liable on the bike, I don't see you being able to get your VAT form stamped at Dublin airport (I could be wrong on this though). In my opinion, the tax form will need to be stamped leaving Northern Ireland as that is the tax juristiction.

On this site it says this:
I think you should ask at a Northern Ireland tourist office how the system works when you are leaving NI, through Southern Ireland. They should know the details.

May I ask what brand of bike they will not ship to CH because of licencing. I have not heard of this problem before.

i would assume it would be at the point of departure from the UK, i.e. the north / south border. i'm not aware of any agreements between the north and south for 'transit' vat reasons. You could be stuck with having to pay the vat in the south too! especially with amount of trade that is heading north at the moment the southern authorities would be very interested in getting their hands on the money. unless you can prove that it is for export and or you have flights books etc

not an easy one. i would try and leave from belfast direct for CH if possible.

bill

what he said! (c;

I'm importing an Intense Tracer, which they've told me can't be shipped outside of the UK due to strict licensing agreements.......

I suspected it might be Intense all right. Have you checked around Zurich? I bought an Intense 5.5 last year from a local dealer. It would not have been a whole lot cheaper for me to buy the bike in CRC then with the guy I bought it off. I have fairly recently been in touch with him about the new Uzzi and it appears that his pricing is along the same lines as when I bought my 5.5.

Before the Tracer and Uzzi came out, I was toying with the idea of building up a 6.6 and purchasing the frame from CRC, at the end of the day by the time I would have the bike built up I wouldn't have saved hardly anything compared to buying the frame and a build kit at my dealer.

www.mountainthrill.ch is the website and the last time I was over there he had loads of Tracers in stock, his order time is quite good and can get you any colours you want.

Thanks. I wish i'd known about them before, but I just ordered last week with CRC.......

I checked the intense site, and the official importer came back with a price which brought a tear to my eye!

Don't get me wrong CRC are very good to deal with, and did offer me discount, (compared with the price I got from Cycle City in ZH, they were already 35% cheaper even before the discount!) but it's just a hassle having to go and pick it up from them.....then claiming back the VAT.

I do appreciate eveyones advise though - looks like i'll need to do a little more research here to find out exactly what's needed. As it's still not 100% clear to me yet.

In terms of transporting with planes- can someone recommend a good quality hard-case? This will be a brand new shiny bike, and I would like to get it back to CH looking like one

Thanks again to all for your help!

Easy jet are still flying from Geneva to belfast for the next few weeks, and sometimes the flights can be pretty cheap. that would be a lot closer for ballyclare

I presume you are buying frame only. The frames come packed quite well in a box. I would just give the frame a quick inspection, wrap some extra towels or something in there if necessary and bring it back like that. A proper bike case will probably be over kill unless you are bringing back a complete bike, or the parts to build the bike up too.

I have a Thule bike box that you can borrow if you'd like.

No, it's a complete XTR build agressive AM build (excluding Fox Talas 36 1.5 which they don't stock)

you can see my complete build here -http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=496643

Moving up from a trusty Epic, so it will be quite a jump!

I was going to have the frame shipped to the UK (to a friends place) and pick it up from there, and the other components sent to ZH, but then I started to consider.

- Flight cost to the UK, plus bringing the frame back in a cardboard box...
- Quality control on the individual parts sent via a courier.
- The cost to build it in CH - been quoted 300 CHF.

So I then considered flying to Ireland and picking it up, fully assembled setup and fitted to my overall weight and dimension, plus it would give me the chance to give all the parts a once over before accepting the bike.

I'll have piece of mind, and save the build costs.

Damn, that's complicated. I got 17% off the retail price off my 5.5 (Before the news of the tracer was even released) at the shop I bought mine at.

Either way it will be an amazing bike. I went from a Trek Fuel EX to the 5.5 and found it a big step. Absolutely amazing bike. I believe the Tracer is a serious step up again. Your build will be perfect for the trails we find around here. You are going to have an amazing summer if you get out on that often.

hell - imagine an MTB on Lake Zurich - the fun you could have with the ferries .

You said it Bob - but then again the ferries would only confuse me......

Plus I wouldn't know if I needed my tax form stamping before crossing or not.

(resisted the lure of Dark Peter tonight - will savour some more at the weekend..... )

True - but what would you prefer, 2 hours admiring the Irish countryside or 3 hours with the SBB.....decision decision

If you pay the full VAT and then claim it back, don't expect to get the full 17.5% - the agency handling VAT will take a nice slice of that...

Some shops have their own VAT refund forms and only charge a £10 handling fee.

Yes, I believe you're right. They've told me that they take part in the retail export scheme, and so will prepare the VAT forms for me.

I think i'll write to the Irish revenue or the tourist authority to get a definitive answer on the north to south stamping thing.....

Hi Patxi,

Many thanks for your generous offer - I really appreciate that.

I'll let you know, as I may well buy one myself. I will be making a few oversees trips this year, and so maybe it's worth it.

Looking at the B&W Bike Case / IXS touring case (as it's known in CH )